299 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COtJNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 8, 1859. 
measure, ancl with a solution of carbonate of ammonia, but in 
no instance did they germinate. 
It may be noted as a warning to those who employ steeps for 
seed, with the hope of promoting the vigour of the future plant, 
that they must keep the seed in those steeps a very few hours. 
In forty-eight hours, if the temperature be 60° or more, putrefac¬ 
tion commences, and germination is weakened, or entirely de¬ 
stroyed. 
M. Vogel, of Munich, has published an extended course of ex¬ 
periments upon this subject; and they fully confirm our opinion, 
that salts, harmless when the plant is of robust and advanced 
growth, are fatal to it at the time of germination ; for he found 
that seeds germinate, without injury, in carbonate of lime (chalk), 
carbonate ot slrontian, litharge, red oxide of lead, phosphate of 
lead, black oxide of manganese, calomel, and cinnabar. That 
they germinate feebly in carbonate of magnesia, copper filings, sul- 
phurct of antimony, red oxide of mercury, and aqueous solution of 
iodine. Lastly, that they refused to germinate at all in earbonato 
of barytes, hydrate of barytes, iodine pulverised and moistened, 
kermes mineral, golden sulphur of antimony, oxide of bismuth, 
arseniate of lead, and green oxide of chromium. These are facts 
which explain the result of practice, that saline manures are 
generally injurious if applied with the seed, though they may be 
beneficial if applied long before the seed time, or subsequently, 
when the plants are of advanced growth. 
Nothing is so injurious to a germinating seed as great vicissi¬ 
tudes of temperature and moisture, or a lengthened exposure, 
to excess, of the latter; in either case, the awakening life of the 
seed is frequently entirely extinguished. Nothing is more dreaded 
by the maltster than a sudden check to his germinating Barley ; 
and, as a chill to the incubating egg effectually prevents the for¬ 
mation of a chick, so does a sudden degree of cold often destroy 
the sprouting seed. To preserve the seeds of our winter crops 
from such vicissitudes, they may, in clayey soils, be sown bene¬ 
ficially upon, and covered with a thin stratum of, coal ashes: 
these are an excellent drainage, as well as a good non-conductor 
of heat. 
It affords a warning, too, to those who have to pack seeds for 
lengthened transport in tropical regions. They cannot be kept 
too dry, for heat alone will have no influence over their germina¬ 
tion; and they should, therefore, be put into small, open, canvass 
bags, and suspended from the beams of the upper cabins, where 
a current of air will keep the seeds as free as possible from damp. 
Close packing, in paper, in boxes, and in tin cases, stowed away 
in the hot hold of a ship, causes such a heating of the seeds, such 
an extrication of moisture from them, as is just enough to com¬ 
mence germination; and which, only carried through its first 
stage, ceases, and then decomposition ensues, which effectually 
destroys the arousing vitality. 
Water being such an essential application to the seed, as well 
as to the growing plant, it may be observed, further, that the 
source from whence it comes is by no means immaterial. The 
best for the gardener’s purpose is rain water, preserved in tanks 
-sunk in the earth, and rendered tight by puddling, or bricks, and 
Parker’s cement. To keep these replenished, gutters should run 
round the eaves of every structure in the garden, and communi¬ 
cate with these tanks. Every 100 cubic inches of rain water 
contain more than four cubic inches of air, of which more than 
half are carbonic acid gas, and the remainder nitrogen and 
oxygen, in the proportion of sixty-two of the former to thirty- 
eight of the last named. 
That a particular proportion of gases is most beneficial when 
presented to the seeds and roots of plants, in rain water, is shown 
by the fact, that it contains in solution the gases of the atmo¬ 
sphere from which it is deposited, but in a very different pro¬ 
portion. Thus, the atmosphere contains 21 per cent, of oxygen, 
and .01 of carbonic acid; but the ah’ extracted from rain water 
contains from 30 to 32 per cent, of oxygen, and from 11 to 60 
per cent, of carbonic acid. 
Liebig, from actual experiment on a large scale, states that 
both raui and snow contain ammonia; and if there be only one- 
fourth of a grain in each pint of water, the annual deposition 
from the atmosphere would be more than sufficient, on half an 
acre of ground, to give all the nitrogen contained hi the vegetable 
albumen of 150 cwt. of Beet Root. Rain water also contains a 
peculiar organic substance, analogous to the extractive matter 
and gluten of plants, though differing from them chemically. 
To this substance Dr. Daubeney has given the name of Pyrrhine. 
Traces of salts and oxides have also been found in rain water; 
but, compared with all other naturally produced, it is so pure, 
and so abounds with the gases beneficial to plants, that none 
other can equal it for their service. That obtained from ponds 
or springs often contains matters offensive or deleterious to 
plants. Those known as hard water, containing in excess salts 
I of lime or magnesia, are invariably prejudicial, and pond water 
is scarcely less so. If it be stagnant and loaded with vegetable 
extract, it is even worse than hard spring water. These last 
named, if obliged to be employed for tender plants, should have a 
pint of the ammoniacal water of the gas works mixed thoroughly 
with every sixty gallons, an hour or two before they are used. 
If pond-water be clear, and not only not loaded with putrid or 
mineral matters, but containing Conferva}, or other growing 
aquatic plants, it may then be used very beneficially for the 
watering of plants. This is ascertained from long experience, 
and it is explained by the fact, that such water contains an ex- 
i cessivc amount of oxygen gas. This excess is greater in propor- 
j tion to the brightness of the sunshine, and the length of time to 
which the water lias been exposed to it. During such bright 
weather, the aquatic plants give out oxygen most abundantly. 
M. Morren found, that in the afternoon of a sunshiny day, the 
oxygen in such water amounted to sixty per cent, of the bulk 
of the ah’ which it contained.—J. 
C To be continued.) 
NEW AND RAEE PLANTS. 
SrATHODEA CAMPANULATA ( Bell-Jlowered Spathodea). 
Called also Bignonia tulip fera. Native tree of western tro¬ 
pical Africa. Flowers like bunches of crimson Tulips.— ( Botanical 
Magazine, t. 5,091.) 
Juanulloa (?) exijiia ( Large-grcen-Jlowered Juanulloa). 
It is known hi gardens as Brugmansia eximia. Sir W. Hooker 
suspects it to be a hybrid. It partakes of the characteristics of 
the genera Juanulloa, Datura, and Solandra. The corolla is 
nearly six inches long, and bright green in colour. It blooms 
during the summer. — (Ibid., t. 5,092.) 
Sanseviera oylindrica ( Terete-leaved Bow-string Hemp.) 
This has been called S. Angolensis, from being a native of 
Angola, in western Africa. Its fibres there are used in making 
cordage, called fe. “Experiments recently made with this 
cordage, prove it to be the strongest and best fitted for deep-sea 
soundings of any fibre known.” The fibres of all the Sausevieras 
are notoriously strong.— (Ibid., t. 5,093.) 
Tachiadenus carinatus (Keeled Tachiadenus). 
Known also as Lisianthus carinatus. Native of Madagascar. 
Introduced by the Rev. W. Ellis, so favourably known as the 
author of “ Polynesian Researches,” and “ Three Missionary 
Visits to Madagascar.” We are indebted to him also for “ two 
species of the wonderful Lace-leaf of our stoves.” Flowers 
purple, blooming in October. It is a beautiful shrubby plant of 
the natural order Gentianecc. — (Ibid., t. 5,094.) 
Chrysanthemum carinatum, var. pictum (Painted variety 
of Keeled Chrysanthemum). 
The species is native of Barbary, and the very beautiful va¬ 
rieties here noticed were sent to Kew in the summer of 1858, 
by Mr. W. Thomson, of Ipswich. They were raised by Mr. K. 
Burridge, Lexden Road, Colchester.— (Ibid., t. 5,095.) 
EATING THE GEEENHOUSES AND OTHER 
GLASS STRUCTURES OF NURSERYMEN. 
Whether such structures are liable to be rated to the poor 
law, has long been a disputed question, and from some recent 
decisions appears to bo as far from being settled as ever. 
Mr. Doclwcll, a recent litigant upon the point, writes to us as 
follows:— 
*« To the nursoryman, glass structures are as essential as the 
lathe is to the turner, or his bench and tools to the carpenter, 
and common sense would prescribe that each should be subject 
to the same law and liability. Governed by this sense of injustice, 
seven years since (in March, 1852) Messrs. Lane and 8on, of 
Great Berkhampsted, Herts, appealed at special sessions against 
an assessment mado upon their structures, on the ground of its 
